Searsport planning board votes down part of tank project

SEARSPORT, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --- The Searsport Planning Board has cast a major vote against a proposed tank project a company is looking to place in town.

The firm D.C.P. Midstream of Denver wants to place a 138-foot propane gas tank on Mack Point. Yet the planning board now says parts of that project cannot go where the company wants.

Mack Point is mostly an industrial zone in Searsport. An oil farm exists there now. Other parts of the property are set aside for commercial business.

Under D.C.P's plan, the tank would go where it's allowed -- but other buildings would stretch beyond the industrial zone. Members of the town's planning board now say that cannot happen. They voted down that part of the project as their deliberations on the tank started Wednesday night. The news pleased members of the group 'Thanks But No Tank' who have been fighting the project for years.

"We're really glad that the planning board has decided to go through point by point," said Astrig Tanguay, who is a founding member of the group, "We think that this way when all is said and done..everybody has gotten all the information out and if there is going to be an appeal by either side..we're covered. We're confident that this project is simply too big and because it's too big..it's not going to pass."

Officials with D.C.P. Midstream say they intend to let the planning board hearings play out before deciding what to do next. Talks on the tank will continue Thursday night at Union Hall in Searsport beginning at 6:30 p.m.